Kabul - A suicide bomber detonated his vehicle filled with explosives near a US military convoy in a northern province close to Kabul city, killing two Afghan civilians and wounding 20 others, including two US soldiers, officials said Monday.

The attacker targeted a parked US military vehicle in Char-e-Kar city near the residence of Parwan provincial governor on Monday morning, Interior Ministry spokesman Zemarai Bashary said.

"Two civilians were killed and 17 others were wounded with two of them in critical condition," Health Ministry spokesman Abdullah Fahim said. Three bodyguards for the governor were among the wounded people.

A US military spokesman also confirmed the attack and said that two US soldiers and one civilian contracted by the military were wounded in the attack.

A spokesman for Hezbi Islami, an associate group of Taliban militants told Tolo, a private TV channel that their fighters were behind the attack. Hezbi Islami group, whose members are fighting alongside of Taliban with Afghan and international forces in the country, have claimed responsibilities for anti-government attacks in the past.

Afghanistan has witnessed a spate of suicide attacks this year with most of them carried out by Taliban insurgents, who were driven from power in late 2001 in a US military invasion.

In a suicide bombing in south-eastern province of Khost, close to border with Pakistan on Sunday, 16 people including 14 school children were killed and more than 50 were wounded.

In a video captured by a US military security camera and provided to media by NATO forces, a vehicle explodes near a checkpoint surrounded by sandbags as a single line of school children are passing the area.

More than 120 suicide attacks have been carried out in Afghanistan so far this year. Almost all the attacks targeted Afghan and international forces or officials, but left most of the casualties among the civilians. (dpa)